May 3, 2024 —Pollara’s Rage Index shows the highest level of anger across Canada in the nearly two years we have been tracking this. This includes new highs when it comes to the share of Canadians angry about the economy (67%) and angry towards the provincial (56%) and federal (60%) governments.
The federal budget has done nothing to dissipate the level of anger towards the federal government, as more Canadians have negative (40%) rather than positive (18%) feelings towards the budget.
That said, most individual items in the budget generate more positive than negative emotions, with funding for mental health programs and school foods programs the most popular items, in isolation. The majority of Canadians also feel positively about building housing on underused land owned by the federal government, free contraceptives and diabetes medication, and the creation of the Canada Disability Benefit.
While increasing the capital gains tax generates mixed emotions, framing makes a big difference on how this policy is viewed. It moves from a generator of negative emotions when presented without explanation to a generator of positive motions when survey respondents are informed it means increasing the amount corporations pay in capital gains and increasing the amount people pay for capital gains over $250,000.
You can read full details about the latest Rage Index totals and Canadians’ reaction to the federal budget in our report and read commentary in the Toronto Star.
